FicWad

Dead Rising

Chapter 7

If there was one thing Yugito had learnt in her career as a kunoichi of Kumogakure no Sato, is everything is not as it seems and you should expect the unexpected. So when the 'Mysterious Five' had appeared all of a sudden in the Land of Hot Water, she reacted instantly and went to intercept them. When she first encountered Naruto for the first time she did not know who he was at the time. He did have an uncanny resemblance to the Fourth Hokage though, looking almost like a miniature version of the man.

It wasn't until a few minutes after Samantha had taken the Toad Sage that the Jinchuuriki of the Two Tailed Cat had finally realised who Naruto was: the missing Konoha Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox. There obviously something wrong with the boy. But for the life of her she couldn't find out what it was. When she asked the Two Tails if it could detect any trace of the Nine Tails' when she was in close proximity to Naruto, you could only imagine her surprise when the Two Tailed cat replied there was no presence of the fox within the boy. It could detect a small amount of the foxes chakra lingering within Naruto, but, overall the consciousness of the Tailed Beast was not present.

And that was worrying as it is well known that a Jinchuuriki having a Tailed Beast extracted always ends up in death. Not to mention the boy's chakra felt disturbingly corrupted, something the Two Tails chalked it up to being the absence to the Nine Tails. And then she and everyone at the border had felt the unknown energy appear once again and vanish just as quick. Not a day later the zombies came, and the defence force was heavily surprised to see the flaming zombies as well as the gas zombies walking with the runners and sprinters.

The oncoming battle between the living and the dead was long and hard and they had suffered many losses to their undead enemy. Many shinobi and kunoichi had met their end when they tried to tackle the Napalm zombies' only for them to explode in their faces when they got close to striking them and reduce the attacking ninja to a crisp before they could even react. The gas zombies had proven to be both a blessing and a curse to the defence ninja, when they had learnt the gas zombies when they explode and kill all other zombies around them they took advantage of it and lessened the amount of enemies they had to face.

They also learnt the Napalm zombies do the exact same thing when they explode, but after losing so many of their own to them already' the ninja tried to avoid them if possible. In the end, the concrete wall they had erected to protect the border to the Land of Frost and the Land of Lightning had collapsed when the Napalm zombies kept exploding, re-spawning and exploding at the base of the towering wall in waves. To stop from being overrun and to keep the undead from advancing in their territory Yugito was forced to transform into the Tailed Beast she was containing and unleashed hell upon the undead army.

After she had transformed the zombies' were forced back and out of the Land of Frost before the entire army was destroyed by a well placed Tailed Beast Bomb. And now, the surviving ninja are busy dragging the corpses to a large pile and burn them until nothing but ashes are left.

X.X.X.X

Naruto was the type of person who is not scared easily. He took on hordes' of zombies head on. He committed suicide runs by getting the zombie horde to focus mainly on him in order to buy his group some time. He even laughed in the face of danger even if it was inappropriate. So when Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo saw Naruto and Samantha returning to them almost an hour later they were mildly surprised and slightly amused to see a petrified look on the blondes' whisker marked face.

Naruto seeing the surprised and well hidden amused looks they were giving him glared daggers at them and with a heated tone he said to them. “Shut up.”

“We didn't say anything though.” Dempsey replied with amusement.

“I could tell what you were thinking.” Naruto hissed out, glaring at the men with narrowed eyes. He then turned his glaring, maddening eyes to Samantha who had the expression of self-satisfaction. “And YOU! What you forced me to watch back there was completely unnecessary and horrifying!”

She had the audacity to act as if she had done nothing wrong. “Vhy, I have no idea vhat you are talking about.” Her voice was filled with so much fake innocence to be genuine.

“What did Samantha force you to watch?” Takeo asked as he was genuinely curious and really wanted to know what would make Naruto freak out like this.

“She forced me to watch Fluffy and another dog.” Came Naruto's slightly insane sounded response. His eyebrows were twitching uncontrollably at the memory of the torture she had forced him to watch against his will.

Takeo and Nikolai and Dempsey were confused; they didn't understand what was so bad watching two dogs. It sounded completely normal to them. “What was so bad about watching two dogs?” Questioned Dempsey.

Naruto involuntarily shuddered. “She forced me to watch them both going at it.”

They stared at the boy in confusion for a moment; and then realization kicked in. Fluffy was a German Shepherd who was transformed into what she is now when she was put in one of Der Riese's mainframe teleporters. The Hellhounds are greatly deformed German Shepherds' that have large chunks of their skin and muscle missing revealing the bone, glowing dark orange eyes, and are often covered in flames. And Samantha forced Naruto into watching them rutting like animals in heat. When they realised when Samantha had put him through they let out disgusted gags before giving Naruto looks of pity. Suffice to say Naruto was not amused by the pitying looks the men were giving him.

A few hours and a heavily repressed memory later we find the dubbed 'Mysterious Five' sitting around a table that had materialised out of nowhere. During those hours Samantha discovered a shocking, yet welcoming fact: she could use her powers like she used to when she was in control of the zombies without any drawbacks. Upon realising this Samantha's first action was to take care of their ammo problem and restocked their ammunition. Right now they're talking to one another about anything they can think of, while Samantha was trying to test her abilities to see what she can and cannot do.

“So from I gathered from the name of the entire continent, all the countries that make up the Elemental Nations are named after the elements right?” Questioned Dempsey.

“Some of them are.” Naruto replied with a nod of confirmation happy to take his mind off from that scarring image. “The main five are named after the main elements of the planet, which you four know as fire, wind, earth and lightning. There could be countries within the Elemental Nations that are named after seasons and food.”

“Not to mention the names of these Hidden Villages are not really that creative.” Takeo stated, as he knew what the names of the Hidden Villages' meant in his language.

Naruto couldn't help but scoff at that. “I know. The names really gives away the location to anyone with half a brain. For example: Konohagakure no Sato translates to Village Hidden by Tree Leaves. What would you have to do in order to find it?”

“Go to any forests and search!” Exclaimed Nikolai.

“Exactly.” Naruto replied in confirmation with a smirk. “It doesn't help that Konohagakure is known to be hidden in the Land of Fire which has a large amount of forests. So if you want to find it: to go the Land of Fire.”

“If you think about it all these locations have their own advantages and disadvantages.” Dempsey said to them pointedly. His defence of the Hidden Villages wasn't all that surprising. He is a soldier after all, so he is bound to see some advantages. “For example, the Land of Fire has a lot of forests, so Konoha's forces can use gorilla warfare against their invaders.”

“That's true...” Naruto had a look of contemplation as he thought on Dempsey's words. Then he turned to Samantha and asked, “Did you discover anything else about this dimension we're in?”

Upon hearing the question Samantha smiled and nodded her head enthusiastically. “I have actually. It turns out I can revind time and see vhat has happened on zhe surface vorld. Zhere is a problem zhat I have discovered vith zhis ability.” She said her enthusiasm changing to one of worry towards the end.

“What kind of problem?”

There was a slight hesitance from the girl. “...I have dicvoered zhat time here is very, very different to zhe surface vorld. As of now, zhe five of us has been gone for an entire veek.” As she expected from them her answer had stunned the four.

Tank Dempsey was the first of the four to recover, and asked the question that was on everyone's minds. “A week?! How the hell is that possible? We've been here for a few hours at the very least!”

“I have no idea as to how zhat is possible, American.” Samantha replied with a helpless shrug. She began to tap the corner of her mouth as she tried to think of any possible answer. “...Mien guess is zhat time here is much, much slower than on the surface vorld.”

“How slow?” Takeo asked giving Samantha a curious look.

There was more hesitance from the girl, who was thinking on not letting them know what she had found out. However seeing the expectant looks they were giving her Samantha caved and told them what she knew. “Seven hours in here vould be an entire veek out zhere. So by zhat logic an hour in here vould be a day out zhere.”

“That's... really fucked up.” Naruto said with shocked eyes, his voice filled with surprise. If that was the case, then by what Samantha said if they spent an entire day in here, then, by that logic. “That means if we spend an entire day in here then almost a month would have passed outside.” The blonde said in realization.

“If what you say is true, then we have to be careful when using this place.” Dempsey said grimly and a little bitterly. It was a shame too. Despite how odd this place is he liked it. It serves as a good base of operations and a good fall back in case things get a little to dicey for them on the surface world.

“Has one week pass already?” Nikolai directed the question to Samantha, since she was the one who knew just how long they had been gone for. He unfortunately forgot that the five of them had already been told they were gone for that long on the surface world.

Samantha twitched her eyebrows at the question she already answered. Closing her eyes the girl inhaled to calm herself down and exhaled, and opened her eyes once more. She brought her gaze to the Russian and felt her left eye twitch in annoyance when she saw he was drinking vodka directly from the bottle. When the hell did he get that out without any of them noticing!?

“Yes. Yes, Nikolai one veek has already passed.” The girl replied blankly, staring at Nikolai with twitching eyes.

Nikolai who was drinking directly from the vodka bottle, gulped down several mouthfuls of liquid before withdrawing the tip from his lips. “Does that mean the ninja who were at border where we were at before are now gone?” He questioned prompting Samantha to scrunch her face in thought. Narrowing her eyes curiously the girl turned on her seat and manipulated the tactical map to zoom in on the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Frost.

To their surprise the group had found the large concrete wall was mostly destroyed. The landscape that led to the Land of Hot Water was mostly scorched, like a raging inferno had made its course there and fucked everything up. Not to mention there was a big. Fucking. Crater. Just outside of the wall. There were several bodies that was burnt beyond recognition in front and behind the wall as well. However there were several shinobi and kunoichi cleaning up the mess by dragging the charred corpses away to put into a pile before burning the corpses until they were nothing but ashes.

“That's smart of them to do.” Dempsey said with a frown, but the approving tone in his voice showed he was glad they were burning the bodies. “By burning the bodies until they're ashes they won't be able to be used against them in the future.”

“Won't heavily charred corpses be useless anyway?” Naruto asked.

“Remember the Napalm zombies, comrade?” Questioned Nikolai who brought the bottle back to his lips and drained the rest of its contents. Once the bottle was empty the Russian brought his lips away from the tip and burped. “Because if the corpses are not taken care of then these soldiers would have to fight them in the future.”

Naruto frowned but nodded as Nikolai had a point. The Napalm zombie is a heavily charred corpse and dealing with one of them is difficult. Having to face an entire army of them? The thought made him shudder.

“At least zhere is one less undead army for us to deal vith. Zhat makes our task zhat much easier to complete.” Samantha said to them with optimism. Then with a flick of her wrist, the real time image of the destroyed wall had zoomed out, showing the entirety of the Elemental Nations once more.

Dempsey groaned as he stretched the kinks out of his arms. “As long as they don't come back for another week or so then I'm happy. So what is our plan for the misty island? Do we go for the largest one or head over to one of the smaller ones?” The marine questioned as he stared at everyone with expectant looks. He wanted their opinions on what path they should take before they proceed with doing the mission. After all if they don't plan ahead then they'll be doomed to fail. Richtofen as much as Dempsey hated to admit it, knew what he was doing. He had gotten the four of them, for the sole purpose of achieving his objectives. And while Naruto, Takeo, Nikolai and himself had done all the heavy lifting so to speak, Richtofen was free to do the easy work.

“I say we go to one of the smaller islands firsts. Who knows what kind of opposition we'll get if we immediately head to the main one.” Naruto suggested.

“I agree with Naruto. If we pick one of the smaller ones' we would be able to collect information if there are no zombies about of course.” Nikolai added in agreement to Naruto's suggestion.

“While Nikki's reasoning has merit, we can also collect information on the main island. Not to mention sneaking around is for the dishonourable! I wish to go to the main island.” Takeo grunted out his suggestion. Neither of them were surprised to hear Takeo wanting to go to the main island first. The samurai is more combat orientated than any of them and to him the thought of sneaking around is distasteful.

“I am in agreement vith Nikolai and Naruto. Going into an island vithout any knowledge is unwise. I vant to go to one of zhe smaller islands.” Samantha added her decision, making the vote between the group 3/1 now.

“It looks like the majority wins here.” Stared Dempsey as he slowly stood up from his seat. “Let's get our gear and head out.”

X.X.X.X

The Land of Water is made up of 13 islands and one very small docking island surrounding the fourteenth, with it being the largest and the known location of Kirigakure no Sato, the Village Hidden by Mist. Kirigakure in matters of land area is undoubtedly the smallest of the five great nations. Despite that however, the Kiri ninja are formidable people and with the mist protecting their Hidden Village the ninja there had become masters of what is known as 'Silent Killing', where a ninja would form a mist, hide in it and then track their enemies silently before killing them.

Covering all 13 islands was a blanket of thick mist no one could see through. The mist had appeared on the islands so suddenly and without warning, that it caught everyone by surprise. Then the howls of a thousand dogs came. Followed by the screams of people dying not long after. Anyone who was not within' Kirigakure no Sato when the mist had come had mysteriously gone missing, never to be heard from again. Only the docking island was untouched.

And it is on this island where we find the four zombie slaying and reformed heroes had teleported to armed with their weapons and resupplied with some fresh ammunition. The second they all found themselves on an unknown island, Naruto quickly fell to his knees groaning in discomfort and held his stomach in an attempt to settle the nausea that was beginning to build up. They had teleported four times in one day, it was bound to unsettle anyone's stomach.

“This place doesn't look like anything I had seen on the map. You sure this place is one of the islands that make up a part of the Land of Water?” Dempsey questioned Samantha as he turned to her, while ignoring the groans of discomfort from Naruto knowing the boy would be back on his feet soon.

“Ja, I am sure zhis island is part of zhe Land of Vater.” Samantha replied while she kneeled down beside Naruto to comfort him. She frowned as she surveyed their surroundings with curiosity. They were currently on a port of what appeared to be a dock, there was a lighthouse far out in the distance as well. Looking around some more, she could see a pathway leading up to a small town or village. She took note the island was almost covered by healthy trees. “Strange, zhis place vas not on zhe map.”

“These people are lucky to be untouched by the demons.” Takeo commented.

Naruto groaned in discomfort again as he slowly stood up. “It's quiet though. And I don't like that.” The blonde teen stated, his bad past experiences of quiet places coming to mind. He squinted as he stared at the village up the hill. It looks deserted. But looks can be deceiving. “Let's check that place out and see if there's anyone there.” He added pointing towards the seemingly abandoned village.

Everyone looked toward the direction Naruto was pointing and nodded in silent agreement. “Let's do that then. Takeo, you're on point. Naruto and Samantha you take the rear.” Dempsey ordered in a militaristic tone, his past experiences in the military kicking in.

Naruto and Samantha merely gave Dempsey a mock salute, but followed his orders without protest. Takeo grunted as he took position in front, while he himself and Nikolai took position in the middle.

“I'm curious Samantha.” Naruto began, prompting said girl to turn and stare at him questioningly. “Why did you decide to give Nikolai the Scavenger? And why is it upgraded?” He added as he pointed at the advanced looking sniper rifle slung over the Russian's shoulder. He wasn't trying to hide his question either, so everyone else was able to hear it, and they were curious to know Samantha's reason for giving a drunk who is capable of doing more harm to himself a very dangerous weapon.

“I gave Nikolai zhe Scavenger, because it is time Nikolai had gotten his hands on one of zhe Vunder Veapons. As to vhy it is upgraded? Zhat is easy; it vill allow Nikolai to spot anything zhat has Element 115 or heat in zhem if zhey happen to be alive. Plus I did not vant to listen to zhe drunk complain about zhe unfairness of it all.”

Dempsey and Takeo and Nikolai blinked in surprise, not having expected that answer coming from the girls mouth. Naruto however was giving Samantha the deadpanned look. “...So let me get this straight... You gave Nikolai a sniper rifle that shoots explosive bullets, that anyone in this group apart from me or yourself can use, because you didn't want to hear him complaining?” He stated, his tone as flat as the expressionless expression on his face.

“Yep!” She chirped out rather cheerfully, sounding as if she had done nothing wrong with her choice.

Naruto didn't say anything and turned his around so he could look forward. But the uncontrollable twitch of his eye showed just how annoyed he was at her illogical choice. I mean really!? What kind of person would give a very deadly sniper rifle, that can fire explosive bullets, to a guy who needs to consume alcohol daily so he can function properly. Apparently Samantha is that kind of person. Talk about insane logic. Dempsey and Takeo both shook their heads in disbelief at the insane logic Samantha had displayed, while Nikolai was cheerful and began to whistle a cheery tune as they walked up the hill that led to the small community before them.

Or at least tried too. Nikolai's whistling came out butchered and he stopped when he felt the eyes of everyone on him. So instead the Russian started humming; which sounded much better than his dreaded whistling.

Minutes later the group had finally reached the only village that is on the island. What they had found gave them all pause. The place appeared to be completely deserted. There was no sign of life anywhere, no signs of activity and no sign of any animals around. It was a literal ghost town.

“...I don't like this...” Dempsey murmured with caution. He was surveying their surroundings with narrowed eyes and his M-16 raised and ready to fire as he scanned the buildings and rooftops for any activity. “...It's too quiet...”

“Indeed.” Takeo murmured in response. He too was scanning their surroundings with his Type 100 raised and ready to fire. “This silence feels like a trap.”

Naruto, Samantha and Nikolai had their weapons raised and ready to fire as well as they looked around their surroundings with narrowed eyes. With the Scavenger in his possession Nikolai would have an easier time looking for anything that had heat in their body as they would show up as a glowing white figure on the scope. He didn't know what would the person look like on the scope if they had Element 115 in their body.

Actually... speaking of having Element 115 in their body Nikolai turned and looked at the others through the scope on his Scavenger. He kept his finger away from the trigger so he wouldn't accidentally shoot them. He grunted with interest when he saw all four of them were glowing blue instead of white. He wondered if the scope knew the four of them were his allies? He shrugged and shifted his aim so the rifle wasn't pointing at any of them, but at one of the buildings and returned to searching for anyone that is still alive; or not.

“My scope is not getting anything.” Nikolai relayed to the others in a soft growl. “It feels this place is truly abandoned...” The others made sounds of agreement; after several minutes of no activity the five of them lowered their weapons, but kept their guard up and a close eye on their surroundings. “What should we do now?” Questioned Nikolai who turned to look at the others for guidance.

“We stay together and look around as a group. No splitting up” Dempsey responded as he turned to look at the Russian. Nikolai didn't respond to that, but he did grunt and nod his head in acknowledgement.

With that said the five of them as a group went to the houses and shops and tried to see if there was anyone around. After several hours of searching through the village the group came up empty. There was literally no one around. It was like everyone had left in a hurry as there is still furnishing in the houses. The food in the fridges had gone stale but not off. The liquids were there as well, but the group felt more at ease by drinking water.

Leaning on a wall in one of the houses they were taking shelter in Dempsey rubbed his stubbled chin. “Okay, so we can assume that everyone was leaving in such a hurry that they left their furniture behind. The food is stale too, and so that means whatever was happening here had to be so severe that the residents have been gone for a long while now.”

“There doesn't seem to be anything wrong though.” Naruto said while looking around the house from his spot near the front door. “Why would they leave this place if it is untouched?” His question made everyone think on it. There could be an numerous reasons as to why the inhabitants abandoned the island. But it would be a mystery that would go unanswered.

“That's the million dollar question, isn't it?” Dempsey replied to Naruto's question. “That mist wasn't surrounding the islands until the last time we were in that dimension place. So maybe, just maybe, that had something to do with it?”

“It seems plausible.” Takeo said with a light frown from his place on one of the sofas. “However, the mist has not reached this island. So that cannot be the reason.”

“It could be though.” Samantha replied, prompting everyone to stare at her as she began to list her reason. “You forget zhat people tend to fear vhat zhey do not understand. Perhaps zhey left because zhe mist had appeared unnaturally?”

Hearing that Naruto found that to be familiar for some reason. Narrowing his eyes Naruto stroked his non-existent beard on his chin and began to think as to why that sounded familiar. Then he hissed loudly as he felt a sharp stabbing pain in the back of his head. As he fell to his knees with his hands on his head he heard his friends yell to him in alarm and worry. He felt someone putting their hand on his shoulder and arm in an attempt to comfort him, as memories of his past began to flood his mind showing him the eyebrow-less man with a sword twice his size he had met on the mission to the Land of Waves once more. Only this time he was using a technique to unnaturally summon a mist to hide himself in.

Coming too, Naruto blinked and winced as he held his head in an attempt to sooth the stabbing pain that was slowly fading away. Looking up he found everyone looking at him with worry. “Naruto! Kid, are you alright?!” Dempsey asked with alarm.

Slowly blinking his eyes repeatedly for a few moments Naruto slowly nodded. Everyone let out a sigh of relief before helping the teen back to his feet and helped him sit down on one of the couches.

“Was it a memory?” Takeo asked, his along with everyone else's worry now easing since the whisker face blonde appeared to be fine now.

“Yeah. It was a short one though.” Naruto replied with a nod. “I think you triggered it when you said the mist had appeared unnaturally, Samantha.” He added as he turned to the girl in question, who looked taken aback by that.

“I vas zhe one who caused it?” She asked, sounding surprised.

Naruto nodded and waved off the concern that Samantha and everyone else was giving him. Despite having his memory returning being painful he wasn't that too bothered by it; it was bound to happen again sooner or later. “Yeah. And I actually saw something that supported your claim of the mist appearing unnaturally. What I had seen this time was that eyebrow-less man I told you before back at the Land of Waves. He was summoning a mist through unnatural means and hid himself in it. So it's possible the mist was used in a similar manner but in a much larger scale.”

“Huh, good to know.” Dempsey had a thoughtful expression. “So we're going to assume this mist was made through unnatural means?” He asked, directing the question to the only person who knew anything about this dimension they were in. Even if said person only had bits and pieces of it floating in his brain.

“Yep.” Naruto nodded his head in confirmation.

Dempsey frowned lightly as he stroked his stubbled chin. “Alright.” He sighed out as he pushed himself off the wall. “Staying here won't do anything. Samantha, can you try and find out where the Staff of Lightning is and bring us as close to it as you possibly can?” Samantha tapped the corner of her lips with a thoughtful expression; although she had an uncertain look on her face she had nodded her head affirmatively.

“I can try.” She said to him. “I am not sure if it vill vork or not, but it cannot hurt to attempt it?” Closing her eyes Samantha scrunched up her face in concentration. Her skin turned a pale white and her hair began to whip around her like tentacles. In her awakened state being in close proximity with Takeo she could feel the Elemental Staff he had pulsing with Element 115. Knowing that energy she knew the likelihood of the other staffs baring the same thing was high so she began to spread out her concentration to the islands that made up the Land of Water.

She frowned when the mist was somehow blocking her attempt to peer through it. Something that shouldn't be possible. This had reinforced her belief in Naruto's statement that the mist was not natural at all. Something was trying to stop them. However, it wasn't something she couldn't handle. She increased her concentration several times and after what seemed like hours, she had finally managed to peer through the veil that surrounded the islands. She could feel the islands literally covered in the energies of Element 115, seemingly killing off everything the mist touched.

Samantha could see groups, large enough to be armies in their own right, of decaying animals wandering around aimlessly. Samantha had let out a breath of relief that these animals were nothing like the Hellhounds. Those are her favourite animals after all! There were no humans among them frighteningly enough. She could see several villages on the islands were now rotting and decaying. Something she had found to be odd considering they've technically been gone for an entire week. She found several bodies, both Mist-ninja and civilians who were trapped within the mist were getting torn to shreds by the undead animals.

It was happening everywhere. Except for the Hidden Village in the Mist.

Returning her focus onto the task at hand Samantha started her search for the Staff of Lightning. The mist interfering with her search had made it difficult, but with her stubbornness Samantha had finally found a location; it was on one of the 13 islands, in particular the staff was located on the island that was just North East of the main one.

“I got it! I'm teleporting all of us there now!” Samantha announced in exclamation as she opened her eyes, revealing her glowing orbs for all to see. Then she had teleported Naruto and Dempsey, Takeo and Nikolai and herself off of the island and onto the one where she had detected the Staff of Lightning.

X.X.X.X

In the Village Hidden in the Mist, the ninja forces could be seen patrolling the streets and rooftops. Outside the village walls a thick mist could be seen. Visibility was incredibly low and at times you could hear the death screams of those who were unlucky enough to be caught outside the village walls. Inside the Kage tower who was busy going over plan after plan, tactic after tactic with her subordinates was the Fifth Mizukage.

The fifth Mizukage is a beautiful woman in her thirties. She has green eyes, and ankle-length, auburn hair that is styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two bangs are short, with one covering her right eye, and two are long, crossing each other on her bust, just below her chin. Her attire consists of a long-sleeved, dark blue dress, that seems to be closed at the front with a zipper, and is kept open on the front-right side from the waist down.

Underneath, she wears a mesh armour that covers slightly more of her upper body than her dress. She also wears a skirt in the same colour as her dress and, underneath those, mesh leggings reaching down over her knees. Around her waist, she wears a belt with a pouch attached to the back on the left along with high-heeled sandals and shin-guards reaching up over her knees.

This is Mei Terumi the fifth Mizukage of Kirigakure no Sato. And with the recent event that has occurred during the past week, even though she does not look like it, she was under a lot of stress. The thick unsee-through mist had blocked off all communication from the outside, and anyone who had tried to break through it was never seen again. They could hear animals, letting out inhumain growls and roars outside of the walls. Dealing with that and trying to stop her people, from panicking and doing something stupid out of fear and desperation would bring anyone close to breaking from the stress.

Mei was close to breaking under the pressure. The summoning contracts her ninja had under their service could not come to their aid, as they were dealing with the same problems as they were. Yes, she was close to breaking but she was hanging in there.

Not two weeks ago she had received rumours of a group dubbed as 'The Mysterious Five' had appeared out of nowhere near the Land of Waves, shortly after everyone in the Elemental Nations had felt an unknown energy signature originate near said country. Shortly after making their appearance the 'Mysterious Five' had liberated the Land of Waves from undead forces. She had heard they had equipment that was similar to kunai launchers that Konoha and the Land of Spring/Frost had, only these weapons were far more advanced and slimmer than the kunai launchers. They had vanished within a few hours of making their appearance, but before they vanished they had somehow stopped an invasion of undead from taking over the Land of Waves.

Then a mysterious energy signature, the same one that was felt shortly before they appeared had appeared once more. They were never seen again.

Mei Terumi was hopeful that these people, this 'Mysterious Five' as they had been called by the people of the Elemental Nations, could help them. She had discretely sent out a few teams to find any clues to their whereabouts. Only to come up with nothing. While she was disappointed by that, she had discovered some useful information about them. Information on their appearance, what they wore, their weaponry, anything that was useful to use to find them.

Then one week later the unknown energy had appeared at the Land of Hot Water, where rumours had been said there was an undead army attempting to invade the Land of Frost and Lightning. No one knew what had happened, but what had been discovered before the mist had settled in through out the islands was the Mysterious Five had been found by Jiraiya of the three Sannin, and Yugito Nii the Nibi Jinchuuriki of Kumogakure no Sato.

Long story short: the Mysterious Five had decided to stay behind and take down as many undead as possible, while Yugito and Jiraiya were to be taken back to their respective villages; in Yugito's case she was returned to the defence forces that were stationed at the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Frost. They also learnt of two new zombies that belonged into the fifth type: the fire zombies and gas zombies.

The Mysterious five, after the mysterious energy signature had appeared once more, had disappeared again. It was here her spies in Konohagakure no Sato had somehow found some surprising yet, useful information on the Mysterious Five: one of the members had been identified as Naruto Uzumaki, Konoha's missing Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. He has a severe case of amnesia, and his personality had changed drastically. Unfortunately she didn't know how much the Jinchuuriki had changed. On the other hand it was revealed that Naruto was fairly close to the group.

And also the Hokage was planning on sending teams to locate Naruto once he steps into the Land of Fire and convince him to return to the place he was born. They had specific orders to not try and force him to return if he refused.

She had gotten copies of the documents that had detailed what was going on. Not to mention her spies had managed to gain some more information from one of Naruto's former friends. She had to thank Ino for spilling most of that information when her informants were eavesdropping close by. Seriously, that stupid girl had no restriction to blabbing when it came to what she deemed 'juicy gossip' to her friends outside and inside the ninja forces.

As of this moment, Mei along with several of her advisor’s and veteran shinobi and kunoichi were in a war room, discussing tactics and methods on trying to find a way to disperse the mist that had trapped them within their own Hidden Village.

Then they felt it. The strange energy signature that was felt four times during the past two weeks. Only it was much closer to them than the last several times.

“It seems that the so called Mysterious Five are now in the Land of Water.” A blue haired man, with an eye-patch said with a serious expression. This is Ao, one of Mei's advisors and a veteran shinobi who was raised under the infamous regime of the Bloody Mist.

“What do you think they're here for?” A nameless kunoichi questioned.

“That is unknown. But the last time they were seen, the Land of Frost was facing an invasion by an undead army. They could be here to help us for all we know?” A name shinobi, who was one of Mei's advisor, replied to the question.

Lifting her gaze from the table the Mizukage focused her attention on both ninja and advisors that are in the room.“Whatever their reason for being here is, unless they are within Kirigakure they will not be able to help us.”

“Why don't we just send out some ninja in order to find them and ask for their help?” Another nameless shinobi asked with a curious look on his face. It was a simple solution in his eyes; send people outside to locate the Mysterious Five and recruit their aid.

'Though he had forgotten one very crucial fact that Ao had pointed out to him.

“Because anyone who ventures out into the mist never returns.” Ao sternly answered in a no-nonsense tone. “For all we know anyone, who is not behind the safety of our walls is dead. Not to mention the people here are close to panicking and rioting. We need every able bodied ninja here to keep the peace.”

“Not to mention visibility is almost non-existent. So going outside of our village walls is a testament to suicide.” The first nameless ninja concluded pointedly.

Before anyone could make a comment on that, everyone went stock still as they felt another burst of energy and it vanishing just as quick as it appeared. Then it reappeared again, this time it was far, far closer than previous.

Mei Terumi leaned forward on the table and rested her chin on her hands. She smiled a sly, yet knowing smile. “Something tells me, that our problem with the mist is going to be taken care of sooner than we think.”

X.X.X.X

Dempsey let out an impressed whistle as he watched the mist being pushed away from them all by an visible force. “Dang, that's impressive.”

Samantha who was still in her awakened form, had her hands out in front of her as if she were pushing against something. She let out a strained chuckle at the compliment. “Thank you. This is harder than it looks.”

The second the group appeared on the island just North-West of Kirigakure they were immediately assaulted a lack of visibility thanks to the incredibly dense mist. Since they were close to one another the five of them could barely make out where they were. So Samantha thinking of an idea on the spot had raised both hands out in front of her and used her power to forcibly pushed the mist away from surrounding them.

“Can you keep it up?” Naruto asked as he looked at his friend with concern. He didn't want her to strain herself by keeping the mist away from them indefinitely.

Baring her teeth in a strained manner, the pale skinned girl nodded positively. “I can keep this up for a while, yes. But something is fighting against me. Like there's some kind of presence here, similar to the one I had found at the Land of Waves. Only this one seems strangely familiar for some reason to me. It is also out of place in this dimension, as if it shouldn't be here.”

That had gotten everyone's attention. Another spirit near another Elemental Staff. There was no way that was a coincidence. And the fact Samantha felt it was out place here, and was familiar to her sent alarms off in their heads?

Takeo silently stared at the mist surrounding them. He was a little suspicious and with the looks he saw on the others, they were suspicious too. There wasn't anyone they could think of that would seem familiar to Samantha, except for Richtofen. But that couldn't be possible, because the last time they had heard from him, Richtofen was still on the moon controlling the zombies on the destroyed Earth.

“Is it angry?” Naruto asked Samantha with concern showing on both his face and in his voice. If there was one thing Naruto was worried about, excluding a seemingly limitless horde of zombies, were ghosts. Not because he was afraid of them mind you, because he had gotten over that a long time ago, but because there was nothing you could do against an enemy you couldn't fight against.

“Let's get moving while she answers. Staying out here in the open is not a wise thing to do.” Dempsey said to Naruto before Samantha could reply.

“Good idea.” Naruto replied, then he and the others began to traverse through the mist, weapons raised and ready to fire. While that was happening Samantha was using her abilities to keep the fog from concealing them, separating the mist in front of them while allowing it to return to the way it was from behind. “So, is it angry?” The former Konoha shinobi repeated giving Samantha a quick glance.

The girl narrowed her glowing gold like eyes in concentration. “The spirit is more annoyed than angry.” She eventually answered. Seeing as the others were giving her looks for more detail she elaborated. “The spirit is annoyed and wary at everything around it. I believe whatever has made this spirit annoyed and wary had caused this mist to appear.”

“So whatever spooked this ghost, had prompt it to make this insanely dense fog. I'm going to take a gander and say the Staff of Lightning is right in the centre. Can you sense anything weird about this fog at all?”

“It has large traces of Element 115. Thankfully it's not able to affect our memories or anything else on us.” Samantha answered.

As Dempsey began to complain and curse about how the dangerous Element kept on making everything worse for them, even in this dimension they were in, Naruto suddenly stopped and gazed to his left. He peered through the dense fog with squinted eyes, thinking he had heard something. The others noticing Naruto was not following had stopped too and looked at him curiously.

“Is something wrong, comrade?” Nikolai asked.

Naruto didn't say anything for the longest moment, letting everyone think he either missed the question or was ignoring the man entirely. Just when Nikolai was about to open his mouth to ask again, Naruto had answered. “...I have the strangest feeling that there is something out there, in the mist, watching our every move?” His tone was filled with wariness, as his squinted eyes slowly darted from side to side cautiously.

“What do you think it is? Zombies?” Questioned Dempsey as he along with Nikolai and Takeo scanned their surroundings for any undead.

“I dunno. They are not close enough for me to see them.” Naruto replied in an even tone, a frown lightly pulled at his lips.

“We should continue onward; for staying in one place would not be a good idea.” Takeo stated. Samantha agreed wholeheartedly with Takeo, as she was getting weaker by the second from keeping the mist at bay.

With that said the whole group continued their unseen journey through the fog. With a destination in mind but with no way for them to know where it is. Naruto however had placed his faith in Samantha and would trust her guidance toward the Staff of Lightning. They just had to traverse through a thick fog.

“What the hell?!” Dempsey yelled in exclamation. He took aim in front of him when he saw a faded outline of an animal with ominous glowing red eyes racing across the route before him.

“I see something on our left!” Nikolai called out upon seeing another animal with ominous glowing red eyes just standing there, staring at him, before it turned and ran into the mist and away from sight.

Naruto let out a startled yell and grabbed the back of his head when he felt a small pebble hit him. “Ow! They're behind us!” The whisker face teen said warningly as he turned to face the little fuckers that had thrown the pebble at him. He saw two faded outlines of monkeys before they retreated back into the depths of the mist. They too had the same glowing eyes as the other animals stalking them.

“They are attempting to surround us!” Takeo exclaimed fiercely.

Feeling himself get hit by another pebble, Naruto with teeth gritted in irritation swiftly turned on the balls of his feet. Now that he was facing in the direction the small stone came from, Naruto had seen an outline of another monkey. It was staring at him with those mocking glowing red eyes. Snarling Naruto took aim at the monkey's head and fired a single shot. The monkey's eyes dimmed out as it jerked back. The bullet easily ripping through its skull and brain matter. Then the primate fell on its back.

Everyone had heard the other primates screeching out in rage as one of their own was killed so suddenly and made to attack them. Naruto and Nikolai, Takeo and Dempsey all positioned themselves so Samantha was in the middle of them. They took aim at their respective sides as they saw the animals approach and act as if they were about to attack.

However, when the animals had reached the edge of the mist one monkey leapt out and attempted to attack Takeo. Only for it to fall to the ground in a pain filled screech. Its skin began to melt from its very bones. This had surprised them greatly as they had never seen anything like this before and were all quick to realise that the mist itself was protecting them. The group of five observed as the apes and other animals who had witnessed this, stalked back into the fog, with their glowing red eyes never leaving them.

Seeing as they were now left alone the group continued to move while being much more aware of their surroundings now that they knew they were being stalked. “Something here is definitely amiss, for the mist itself is shielding them...” Takeo stated the obvious.

“It is best if we get this done as quickly as possible. I do not want those filthy monkeys to get near me.” Nikolai added darkly in agreement to Takeo. He was using his Scavenger rifle to keep an eye on all the primates and any other animals stalking them from within the mist. What he saw chilled him to his core; several hundreds primates were just on the inner rim of the mist and were following them all as silently as they could. Like a predator stalking its prey.

A sneer pulling at his lips Nikolai said, “As a quick warning to you all; we may want to keep ourselves outside of fog! Beasts are there, stalking our every move!”

“Numbers?” Takeo asked.

“Too many to count!” Relayed the Russian.

With that response Takeo, Dempsey and Naruto all glanced at Samantha with worry. Troubled at the fact Samantha would not be able to keep the dense mist away, and expose them to the undead animals that are currently stalking them.

Seeing the looks she was getting Samantha scoffed. “I'm a big girl. I know my own limits. I can go on doing this for a good while.” If she weren't occupied in keeping the mist back she would have stubbornly crossed her arms at that point.

“Do you know how far we are from our objective?” Naruto asked.

“I would say... we are at least an hour's walking distance away from reaching our destination.”

“Then let's keep moving.” The others nodded and kept moving on, all the while keeping an eye on their stalkers to make sure they don't try anything when they're not looking. Still as long as they keep out of the mist, then they should be fine.

While they moved Samantha had been keeping them updated on what was happening around them. The more they got closer to the Elemental Staff, the more difficult it was for Samantha to keep the mist away from herself and the others. Thankfully their stalkers were no longer harassing them' but Nikolai kept an eye on them, just so he could tell the others where they are. An hour later the five had finally reached their destination.

Before them was an ancient temple, with crumbling walls around the structure. It is similar to the one in Shangri-La only this looks more ancient and more overrun by foliage and nature. For some strange reason there was no mist here which was welcoming to them. Samantha no longer seeing the need to use her abilities, returned to her normal state and allowed the mist to settle back in place behind her as she and the others moved further in.

“Huh, this place wasn't on the map.” Dempsey stated as he surveyed his surroundings with squinted eyes.

“I had felt zhis place had been covered in Element 115 vhen I had been in mien awakened state. However, I had never thought it vould be able to hide from me.” Samantha said as she looked at the massive temple with an awed expression.

“Then the spirit or presence you felt an hour ago must be hiding this place.”

“One large temple, one Elemental Staff, and a mist surrounding the place from all sides.” Naruto said as he looked around before chuckling. “This place smells like a death trap.”

“All places we go are death traps! Makes things interesting.” Nikolai had spoken with so much enthusiasm, everyone had given him weird looks for it. But they did have to give him that. If the places they've been too haven't been death traps, then it wouldn't have been interesting or eventful.

Shrugging their shoulders the group made their way to the temple. It was most definitely similar to the temple in Shangri-La. When they were just at the bottom of the staircase that led up to the temple itself, Takeo and Nikolai, Naruto and Dempsey and Samantha all looked up towards' the sky when they heard a familiar voice they had not heard since the they were in that abandoned Soviet Cosmodrone.

“...You four again? How can this be?” A masculine ethereal voice with a heavy Russian accent said questioningly, with a strong henge of surprise in his voice.

“No fucking way...” Dempsey said aloud, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Gersch? How the hell did he end up being here?”

Naruto was looking up at the skies with a confused frown on his lips. “Didn't we free him from the Casmir Mac- no, that's not it; the Casimir Mechanism in that abandoned facility in Nikolai's Homeland?”

“We did Naruto.” Dempsey replied with a light frown. How Gersch had ended in the Elemental Nations after the man was freed is beyond him. “How the man ended up here of all places is a mystery.”

Before anyone could respond Gersch spoke again. “Please... you must help me. I am bound here to this temple. Trapped like an animal!” He was pleading to them with vast amounts of frustration able to be heard in his voice. “You must open the gateway! Please! I beg of you.” Gersch was pleading to them.

“...We'll see what we can do.” Everyone else had nodded their heads in agreement with Dempsey' even if the man is not able to hear them.

Everyone had waited to see if Gersch had anything else to say. When he didn't the group decided to take a look around together. Now that they were in a safe place, the five of them slung their weapons over their shoulder so it was out of the way. They kept their hands near their side-arm just in case they needed a quick weapon to draw and shoot.

They found themselves to be in a courtyard. In front of them was a staircase that led up to the temple itself. The courtyard was made out of bricks, and had weeds and grass overgrowing it and was close to being reclaimed by nature. The ruined brick walls that made up the courtyard were almost covered entirely by vines and root as well.

Turning the group made their way up the staircase with Dempsey and Takeo leading them. A few seconds had passed before Naruto started a conversation. “Can't believe it was Gersch of all people you had felt.”

Samantha couldn't believe it either, since she was sure he had gotten out of that place back in the Cosmodrone. But it was Dempsey instead of Samantha who replied. “With him finding himself in a new place, with nothing recognisable to him, I guess Gersch had panicked and accidentally covered the entirety of the Land of Water, excluding this place in that mist.”

“I don't blame him. I vould have done zhe same thing.” She stated truthfully. She glared at both Nikolai and Dempsey to snort at the thought of her doing the same thing as Gersch. “Vhat? Do you think zhat is funny?”

“No. No. Nothing like that.” Dempsey replied with amusement. “It's just, I can't see you doing the same thing as Gersch had done if you were in his place.”

“Yeah, I would think you would go batshit and try to infect everything and everyone in your way, if you had found yourself here all of a sudden.” Nikolai added with a belly laugh.

Naruto looked thoughtful on that. “Actually I can see that happening too.” Samantha gave Naruto a hurt filled expression. With the way he sounded so casual when he said that it really hurt her. Didn't he have faith in her? Naruto unknowing of the look on his friends' face continued with what he had been saying. “I mean you're mellowed out now, Samantha. So there is no way you would do that now at this point in time. But back then, when you were still angry and trying your damned best to kill us, I can imagine you would be even more pissed off if you suddenly found yourself in a place you don't recognise, and would actually attempt to do what Nikolai had said.”

Samantha blinked and thought on his words for a moment; she then came to realise that Naruto was right. Back then when she was their enemy, she WOULD have tried to do what Nikolai said. In fact, if she were still the same as she was back then, she wouldn't hesitate on it.

“And with the undead being able to adapt to the ninja's every move I wouldn't be surprised if this planet ended up being Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition within 10 years or so with you leading them.”

By the time Naruto got his words out of his mouth the group had reached the final step and found themselves staring at a large opening, with three others on the left, right and behind on the structure that made the temple itself. And in the middle of the structure was the Staff of Lightning. It was defyingly floating in the air, with several lights coming from the base of four pillars holding up the roof. The lights when it reflected off the Elemental Staff showed an energy surrounding it like a force-field.

“The gateway is closed because of that staff.” Gersch informed the group the second they reached the last stairs. “You must find a way to turn off the lights powering that shield. Find the entrance that leads underground!”

Dempsey lightly frowned as he stared up toward the sky, blocked off by the ceiling they were under as he addressed the trapped Russian. “That's good an' all, but you're being rather vague on just how we turn the lights off.” After a moment of waiting for any other instructions Dempsey scoffed with an annoyed scowl pulling at his lips and turned on the heels of his boots, and made his way to walk down the staircase with the others following close behind. “Typical. He tells us what we need to do, but doesn't bother to tell us on where we need to go.”

“Well he did say we need to find entrance that leads underground.” Said Nikolai who tried to be optimistic. Though that optimism of his dimmed as he added, “Although he never told us where the entrance was.”

“Ve probably have to search for it.” Samantha stated in a bland tone, her face expressing dissatisfaction that they have to search for something in order to shut down the force-field. They were close to the ground now and only had a couple of more steps before they reach the bottom of the staircase.

“I'm fucking calling it!” Naruto cursed in annoyance. “We're gonna to have to do a bunch of tasks before we can reach our objective! I just fucking know we are.” Takeo and Nikolai and Dempsey made sounds' of agreement to that statement. They had a feeling it was going to be like that as well, considering they've been given their first task to shut down the force-field surrounding the Staff of Lightning.

Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, the group continued on to the courtyard and they all stopped in the middle when they took notice of something that was so out of place with everything else, it shouldn't have been there in the first place. It was a stone sarcophagus, it had several pieces of stone jutting out of the lid and had a skull engraved on it. On the left and right far corners were two question marks as well. The stand underneath it is made out of metal

“A stone sarcophagus sitting on a metal stand. Tell me that doesn't seem the least bit suspicious?” Dempsey said to the others, jerking his thumb at the sarcophagus in question. None of them answered. The marine wasn't expecting them to answer to be honest.

“It does looks like a different version of the mystery box don't it?” Naruto said as he made his way toward the coffin and stopped when he was right in front of it.

“You're right! It does look like a mystery box!” Nikolai exclaimed in realization.

“What're you planning to do kid?” The marine questioned. Tank had a curious look on his face as he saw Naruto getting down on one knee in front of the coffin.

Without turning around Naruto answered as he slipped his fingers under the lid of the sarcophagus. “I'm going to open it. If we're going to do what I just KNOW we're going to do, then I want the right equipment for it.” Then with a grunt of effort Naruto tried to lift open the lid. The key word being 'tried'. The lid had resisted Naruto's attempts to open it after a few moments of trying to open the lid Naruto let out an exhaust filled breath and slid his fingers out of the gap. Standing up Naruto turned to the others and said, “It's not opening.”.

The others frowned with Naruto unable to open the sarcophagus looking Mystery Box. Then Nikolai squinted his eyes as he spotted something that was a little out of place. “The question marks are not glowing.” He said pointing at the question marks in question. “Perhaps it requires power in order for us to use it?”

Dempsey had a thoughtful look on his face. He vaguely recalls seeing another box like that back in France almost three decades ago. “A mystery box that needs power to be used? That sounds like the one in France 30 or so years ago?” Upon hearing that both Takeo and Nikolai had glints of recognition in their eyes as they stared at the sarcophagus.

“Yeah. Now that you mention it I remember seeing something like it too.” Nikolai said stepping forward to take a closer look at the stone sarcophagus. Maybe if he got a closer look at it, he would remember more about it?

“I remember as well.” Takeo added walking to the stone coffin for the same reason as Nikolai. “Was there not a generator that powered up the box and machines once activated?” The samurai questioned as he and Nikolai knelt down in front of the coffin.

Tank stoked his stubbled chin with a thoughtful frown. “I think there was.” He eventually replied. “Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?” He questioned giving Takeo a curious look.

Takeo nodded in confirmation to Dempsey's question. “Yes. Perhaps, there is a generator we need to turn on in order for us to use this box. Once it is active we can finally use it.” He replied as he stood back up nodding to himself in satisfaction with what he had learnt.

From what he remembered when the mystery box in France had power flowing into it then the eyes in the skull and the question marks near the left and right edges of the stone box is meant to glow blue. When there is no power then the eyes and the question marks are black which is what they are now. This box right here is the same as the one in France. And if it truly is the same one in France, then they would have to do the same thing they did over there: find a generator and power it up.

“So, let me see if I'm following you all correctly.” Naruto spoke up with a raised hand prompting everyone to look at him. The spiky blonde haired teen pointed at the stone coffin. “This stone sarcophagus is the Mystery box; but unlike the ones we came across so far, we aren't able to use it unless it is power. And to get power, we need to find a generator and turn it on. Is that what we got so far?”

“Yeah, that's the gist of it so far.” Dempsey replied with a nod of confirmation.

Naruto exhaled a whining like sigh, before he slumped forward with his eyes closed and cried out like a whining baby. “I don't waaanna do this. Not again!” He even went as far as to stomp his booted foot several times on the ground like a child.

“Naruto there are things in life we don't like, but we have to do. Now suck it up and be a man about it.” Dempsey told the teenage boy in a stern tone, with his arms crossed against his chest.

Naruto inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth several times before he straightened himself. “You are right, Tank. We have a mission, and, I might as well do it without being a whiny little bitch about it. So anyone got any ideas on where this entrance is?” He asked as he looked between Takeo and Nikolai, Dempsey and Samantha expectantly.

“There may be a cave entrance nearby that will guide us under the earth.”

“Like in Shangri-La?” Naruto was looking at Takeo with an almost curious expression.

Takeo nodded. “Yes, Naruto, like in Shangri-La. There may be however other places that have power sources for us to take advantage of. If we can find and activate them, then our chances of survival will increase.”

“Heh, say anymore Takeo.” Naruto cracked his knuckles with smirk and eyes narrowed in pure determination. “Let's get this done.”